Joffrey takes some new steps in upcoming seasonby SID SMITH for the Chicago Tribunepublished: February 8, 2007

A new version of "Giselle" will launch the Joffrey Ballet's 2007-08 season, the troupe's first homegrown full-length production in 20 years.

The move - part of a season that includes a full-evening tribute to ballet innovator Antony Tudor and the company premiere of a work by Twyla Tharp - signals a new chapter in the Joffrey's evolution here and an important staff transition. "Giselle" will be staged by 48-year-old Mark Goldweber, ballet master and former Joffrey dancer.

The Joffrey will appear at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles March 22-24, 2007. The program for Thursday, March 22 is identical to their recent Chicago performances and should not be missed by anyone with an interest in classics of the 20th Century ballet: Massine's "Les Presages," Kurt Jooss' "Green Table" and Balanchine's "Apollo." The program for Friday evening and Saturday matinee and evening features works set to popular music: Twyla Tharp's "Deuce Coupe," Donald Byrd's "Motown Suite," and Laura Dean's section from "Billboards." Here is a preview from the La Canada Valley Sun with a link to the LA Music Center website:

The fearless choreographer has been at the center of the dance world for almost four decades, forging a spectacular body of work that draws on modern dance, ballet, Broadway and jazz. From her early training with Martha Graham and her first spartan avant-garde pieces that pointedly avoided the use of music, she grew to embrace pop culture, creating some of nation's best-loved dances to a century's worth of American popular music, from the Harlem stride piano of Willie "The Lion" Smith to Frank Sinatra and the Beach Boys.

She achieved it all with piercing intelligence and an obsessive work ethic driven by an upbringing that would put the efforts of the most dogged stage parent to shame. Tharp's mother simply decided that her oldest child was born to be a star; she logged thousands of miles every year on the family car taking Twyla to an endless array of dance, music and art lessons around Southern California.

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